POLITICAL: Opposition is NOT racism

Thursday, October 8, 2009

http://townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2009/09/30/is_disagreement_with_obama_racism

Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Walter E. Williams :: Townhall.com Columnist
Is Disagreement with Obama Racism?
by Walter E. Williams

*** begin quote ***

Obama’s presidency is truly a remarkable commentary on the goodness of Americans and how far we’ve come in resolving matters of race. Obama convincingly won votes in states with insignificant black populations, such as the New England states, Iowa and Minnesota. For the nation as a whole, he managed 53 percent of the popular vote and 365 of the Electoral College votes when he only needed 270 to win. So now Jimmy Carter, Dowd, Rangel and other race-carders want us to believe that the massive discontent with Obama is racism. I say nonsense!

*** end quote ***

I agree with Prof W that opposition is NOT racism.

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GOVEROTRAGEOUS: Sheeple get a “bargain”!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

*** begin quote ***

Subject: FW: Cash for Clunkers Math another Government Ponzi Scheme!!!!

Here’s what a friend had to say about “Democratic Math”. Ignore all the gas crap, and just look at how the stupid car buyer got taken to the cleaners:

If you traded in a clunker worth $3,500, you get $4,500 off for an apparent “savings” of $1,000. However, you have to pay taxes on the $4,500 come April 15 (something that no auto dealer will tell you). If you are in the 30% tax bracket, you will pay $1,350 on that $4,500.

So, rather than save $1,000, you actually pay an extra $350 to the feds. In addition, you traded in a car that was most likely paid for. Now you have 4 or 5 years of payments on a car that you did not need, that was costing you less to run than the payments that you will now be making.

But wait, it gets even better: you also got ripped off by the dealer.

For example, every dealer here in LA was selling the Ford Focus with all the goodies including A/C, auto transmission, power windows, etc for $12,500 the month before the “cash for clunkers” program started. When “cash for clunkers” came along, they stopped discounting them and instead sold them at the list price of $15,500. So, you paid $3,000 more than you would have the month before. (Honda, Toyota, and Kia played the same list price game that Ford and Chevy did).

So lets do the final tally here:

You traded in a car worth: $3,500

You got a discount of: $4,500

  

Net so far $1,000

But you have to pay: $1,350 in taxes on the $4,500

  

Net so far: -$ 350

And you paid: $3000 more than the car was selling for the month before.

Net so far: -$3,350

We could also add in the additional taxes (sales tax, state tax, etc.) on the extra $3,000 that you paid for the car, along with the 5 years of interest on the car loan but lets just stop here.

So who actually made out on the deal? The feds collected taxes on the car along with taxes on the $4,500 they “gave” you. The car dealers made an extra $3,000 or more on every car they sold along with the kickbacks from the manufacturers and the loan companies. The manufacturers got to dump lots of cars they could not give away the month before. And the poor stupid consumer got saddled with even more debt that they cannot afford.

Obama and his band of merry men convinced Joe consumer that he was getting $4,500 in “free” money from the “government” when in fact Joe was giving away his $3,500 car and paying an additional $3,350 for the privilege.

Thanks a lot guys!

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FUN: When the wife is mad

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Chris Rock on the View commenting on Letterman:

“When the bad guys are after you, you call the cops. When the cops are after you, you call your lawyer. When your wife is after you, there ain’t no one to call!!”

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RANT: Building stadiums at taxpayer expense!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

http://spectator.org/archives/2009/09/30/bomberphobia

Sports Arena
Bomberphobia
By Lisa Fabrizio on 9.30.09 @ 6:06AM

*** begin quote ***

Yet, many of you secretly applaud baseball’s version of socialism, euphemistically called the Competitive Balance Tax, which has resulted in the Yanks paying out over $150 million in the last six years to their direct competitors. Meanwhile, Robert Nutting, the dastardly owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates who pocketed $40 million in revenue-sharing alone last year, saw fit to reduce his 2009 payroll to $20 million by selling off the few good players he had. Such doings make those who cooked up the Oil for Food program look like pikers.

*** end quote ***

MP4B = “Millionaires Playing For Billionaires”

Argh!

Before I would hold up ANY sports team as an exemplar of “conservative” values, I’d think about the stadiums they play in.

Taxpayer funded.

We don’t build McD’s. We don’t build WalMarts. We don’t build lots of things for businesses!

Why are we building stadiums for billionaires where they can exercise their millionaire “talent”?

Argh!

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GOVEROTRAGEOUS: VA care is disgraceful

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_645645.html#

Veterans Affairs won’t release any more care home reports

By Walter F. Roche Jr., TRIBUNE-REVIEW

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

*** begin quote ***

Facing congressional scrutiny over details revealed in a review of care given to veterans at one of its Pennsylvania facilities, the Department of Veterans Affairs slammed the door on the release of similar reports nationwide.

In a directive dated Friday, VA officials in Washington informed local agency officials that inspection reports like the one on the VA nursing home in Philadelphia are not to be released to the public.

The directive came less than a week after the Tribune-Review disclosed details of a 2008 report on the VA’s Philadelphia nursing home that concluded the VA “failed to provide a safe and sanitary environment for their residents.”

Such reports from the Long Term Care Institute — which the VA hired to inspect its facilities — are considered “protected” documents under the provisions of a federal law designed to promote improved quality, the directive states.

*** and ***

The report cited by the Trib was released by VA officials in Philadelphia under a public records request. It described how one veteran had to have his leg amputated after a serious infection had gone untreated for so long that it attracted maggots. It described blood-stained floors, a fly infestation and life-threatening treatment of veterans dependent on tube feeding.

Sen. Arlen Specter and Rep. Joseph Sestak — two Democrats vying for Senate in next year’s primary — visited the nursing home last week and questioned why it took a public records request to get the report made public.

Sestak called on VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki to “release any other inspection reports of this nature.”

Withholding such documentation “only adds to the perception that the VA does not take the principles of accountability seriously,” Sestak wrote in an e-mail response Tuesday to the VA action.

“If the VA is unable to provide this necessary reform at the administrative level, legislation must be introduced,” Sestak wrote in a letter to Shinseki.

Specter also disagreed with the report-release ban. “This runs contrary to the VA’s desire to be an open and accountable agency,” his statement said. “I believe these documents should be made public.”

*** end quote ***

And, you want these same bozos to run our health care, health insurance, and anything else health related like drugs?

I wouldn’t let them run a dog kennel!

Sheeple, wake up!

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POLITICS: Obama is 0 (a zero)

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

http://www.politico.com/politico44/

*** begin quote ***

ONE STEP FORWARD… Consumer spending jumped by 1.3 percent in August – the most in almost eight years – thanks in part to the Cash for Clunkers program, AP reports.

… AND ONE STEP BACK: But, the wire service also reports, jobless claims rose to 551,000 – “evidence that jobs remain scarce.”

*** end quote ***

Obama was a ZERO.

Not O! That title still belongs to Oprah. At least, she’s a savvy business women. (I think she hurt herself and her ratings by getting to close to the ZERO and the Chicago Olympic bid.)

Obama could have:

(1) drastically realigned our troop deployments around the world. (I can hear the conversation now. “Sorry, <insert head of foreign country>, we have pulled the load for 60 or 100 years. We’re so done and out of here.”) Saving oodles of money.

(2) ended the psuedo drug war and pardoned all non-violent drug offenders. (I can hear the conversation now. “Sorry, <DEA, FDA, BATF, and FBI>, we shifting from Prohibition to Treatment.”) Saving oodles of money.

(3) stopped TARP, bailouts, and all sorts of raids on the Treasury. (I can hear the conversation now. “Sorry, <insert name of special interest group or Wall Street firm>, I’m from Chicago. I know how the game is played. And, I ain’t paying you off.”) Saving oodles of money.

(4) cut the capital gains tax to zero. Corporate income tax to zero. Cut the personal income tax to say 10%; just like the Bible. (I can see the corporate HQs relo-ing BACK to the USA as it’s a direct hit to the bottom line.)

(5) executively stopped the Patriot Act, closed the TSA, closed Homeland security, and closed the Department of Education.

The economy would have jumped back like a rocket ship.

And, he’d be on his way to a second term.

But unfortunately, the Sheeple elected 0 (zero) and not Ron Paul!

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TECHNOLOGY: Just use old technology with no added controls

Monday, October 5, 2009

http://tinyurl.com/yatdtgu

TN: Docs faxing patients’ data to Indiana company
Tennessean

*** begin quote ***

“Doctors’ offices in Tennessee have been accidentally sending patient information, including Social Security numbers and medical histories, to an Indiana businessman’s fax machine for the past three years. The sensitive medical information was supposed to be sent to the Tennessee Department of Human Services, but Bill Keith, owner of SunRise Solar Inc. in Indiana, says hundreds of confidential medical faxes having been coming to him. ‘This is a total breach of privacy,’ Keith said. ‘This is supposed to be confidential, and it just so happens we have some scruples here and wouldn’t do anything with that information. We’ve shredded them, but you can have a file an inch thick in no time.'”

*** end quote ***

The technology of fax has to be decades old. And, yet, the TN state gooferment still relies upon it.

There are so many things that could be done. Doesn’t take a genius to figure them out.

Why can’t they use encrypted email?

Why can’t they require a “handshake code” before faxing?

Why can’t the TN gooferment call the docs to pick up their forms?

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PLATFORMS: Separate out data

Monday, October 5, 2009

http://www.wxpnews.com/LEM1E6/090929-Save-the-PC

*** begin quote ***

Dividing the hard disk into separate partitions and keeping your data on drive that’s separate from your operating system is second nature to many of us – but it’s not what happens by default when you install an operating system. Now Jason Hiner is petitioning both Microsoft and Apple to make this the default behavior, so that people will be less likely to lose all their important documents, photos, music, etc. if the OS fails and a clean reinstall is the only solution. Do you agree, or do you think it’s a non-issue as long as we all back up our data as we’re supposed to?

*** end quote ***

It is a great idea.

Unfortunately, no one makes that easy.

IMHO all my data and all my “settings” should be on “MY SIDE” of the disk partition.

Then, all I have to back up is EASILY identified.

Wish it were so.

Microsoft is the biggest offender with the concept of the “registry” in the first place. That’s the thing that makes you have to reinstall in the first place. And, heaven forbid, you have a power drop while it’s writing to it’s precious registry. You may have an unbootable system.

Inexcusable!

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SOCIALISM: Cash for … Sheeple

Sunday, October 4, 2009

http://www.lewrockwell.com/decoster/decoster164.html

Cash for Clunkers, RIP by Karen De Coster

*** begin quote ***

The program was little more than a political redistribution of wealth from the people of America to politicians’ power base that includes unions, environmentalists, and social justice bulldogs. Along the way, a few select people who fell within certain purchase guidelines received a generous discount for turning in their paid-off cars in exchange for a new chunk of steel and a large chunk of debt. As with most government programs, a select group of people became empowered or enriched while the general population paid the bill.

*** end quote ***

To see perfectly good cars being destroyed shocked this old injineer.

Those cars were better than some of the wrecks I drove around when I was a “poor” student. (Poor in both a monetary and academic meaning!)

How many really poor people were denied a car they could afford by this absolute stupidity.

Even if you never studied “economics” and the parable of the broken window created by Frédéric Bastiat, you have common sense. Don’t you?

In what universe does destroying a perfectly good car make any economic sense at all?

If for no other reason than that, if your rep voted for this, then you should vote them out of office. There’s no excuse for having an idiot representing you.

Argh, sheeple!

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POLITICAL: It wasn’t about “war”; it was about politics

Sunday, October 4, 2009

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Without-Bush-media-lose-interest-in-war-caskets-8310113-62427012.html

Without Bush, media lose interest in war caskets
By: Byron York
Chief Political Correspondent
September 29, 2009

*** begin quote ***

But these days, the press hordes that once descended on Dover are gone, and there’s usually just one organization on hand. The Associated Press, which supplies photos to 1,500 U.S. newspapers and 4,000 Web sites, has had a photographer at every arrival for which permission was granted. “It’s our belief that this is important, that surely somewhere there is a paper, an audience, a readership, a family and a community for whom this homecoming is indeed news,” says Paul Colford, director of media relations for AP. “It’s been agreed internally that this is a responsibility for the AP to be there each and every time it is welcome.”

Colford says the AP has a photographer who lives within driving distance of Dover and is able to make it to the arrivals, no matter what time of day or night. As for the network news, it’s not so simple; a night arrival means overtime pay for a union camera crew. And then there’s the question of convenience. “It seems that if the weather is nice, and it’s during the day, we get a higher level of media to come down,” says Lt. Winter. “But a majority of our transfers occur in the early evening and overnight.”

So far this month, 38 American troops have been killed in Afghanistan. For all of 2009, the number is 220 — more than any other single year and more than died in 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004 combined.

*** end quote ***

So all those “anti war” zealots were just playing politics.

Despicable.

I’d like to see a congress critter at EVERY arrival. Some senior administration type too. Maybe we should have a Czar a day.

Sad!

These “representatives” should see the results of their decisions!

Of course, then the congress critters wouldn’t have tome to legislate. Not that is all bad either!

Argh!

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POLITICS: Increase savings and decrease spending at home

Saturday, October 3, 2009

http://www.lewrockwell.com/schiff/schiff49.1.html

The Price of Pretense in Pittsburgh by Peter Schiff

*** begin quote ***

Noting that a return to pre-crisis economics is impossible, the president assured the world that his administration will pursue policies to increase savings and decrease spending at home and challenged his Chinese counterparts to enact measures with the opposite effect in their own country.

While this is roughly what needs to happen, President Obama is actually doing everything in his power to prevent it. In point of fact, every policy move undertaken by his administration has exacerbated the very imbalances he supposedly wants to curtail. To so seamlessly profess one goal while simultaneously undermining it is an impressive piece of political theater. Unfortunately, this particular drama is likely to have an unhappy ending – and the ticket price will be staggering.

*** end quote ***

Upon reflection, when these very ugly chickens come home to roost, as also forecast by Reverend Wright, will there be any way to escape it?

It would seem that getting out of debt and getting very small in terms of exposures would be a good strategy.

Tactically, shift assets to durables, stockpile, and think defensively.

Argh!

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INTERESTING:Too many shots to the head!

Saturday, October 3, 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/30/sports/football/30dementia.html?_r=1

N.F.L. Study Finds Link to Dementia
By ALAN SCHWARZ
  Published: September 29, 2009

*** begin quote ***

A study commissioned by the National Football League reports that Alzheimer’s disease or similar memory-related diseases appear to have been diagnosed in the league’s former players vastly more often than in the national population — including a rate of 19 times the normal rate for men ages 30 through 49.

*** end quote ***

It would seem that a whole bunch of sports have to reevaluate what is “safe”.

We can’t turn men into women or boys into girls. But, we can take “precautions”.

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TECHNOLOGY: Mediasaurus

Friday, October 2, 2009

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/1.04/mediasaurus.html

Mediasaurus
Today’s mass media is tomorrow’s fossil fuel. Michael Crichton is mad as hell, and he’s not going to take it anymore.
By Michael Crichton

*** begin quote ***

The extreme positions of the Crossfire Syndrome require extreme simplification – framing the debate in terms that ignore the real issues. For example, when I watch Crossfire, or Nightline, or MacNeil-Lehrer, I often think, wait a minute. The real issue isn’t term limits; it’s campaign finance reform. The real issue isn’t whether a gasoline tax is regressive, it’s national security – whether we’d prefer to go back to war in the Gulf instead of reducing oil consumption by taxing it more heavily, as every other nation does. The real issue isn’t whether the United States should have an industrial policy, it is whether the one we have – no policy is a policy – serves us well. The issue isn’t whether Mickey Kantor is a protectionist, it’s how should the US respond to its foreign competitors.

*** end quote ***

He hits the nail on the head. The media is just SO biased that it distracts from the data, info, knowledge, and wisdom from the “story”.

It’s a long article but it does highlight how bias and technology are making the “media” obsolete.

Interesting?

How do we capitalize on the replacement?

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POLITICAL: Why can’t we buy and sell human organs?

Friday, October 2, 2009

http://lifesharers.blogspot.com/2009/09/opting-in-vs-opting-out.html

LifeSharers: Opting In vs. Opting Out

*** begin quote ***

The United Network for Organ Sharing, which runs the national organ allocation system, has the power to put registered organ donors first. Sadly, it has not chosen to make this common-sense change. Americans who want to donate their organs to other organ donors don’t have to wait for UNOS to act. They can join LifeSharers, a national non-profit network of organ donors who agree to offer their organs first to other organ donors when they die. Membership is free at http://www.lifesharers.org/ or by calling 1-888-ORGAN88. There is no age limit, parents can enroll their minor children, and no one is excluded due to any pre-existing medical condition.

*** end quote ***

Until we wise up and allow a marketplace in human organs, we will always have shortages. The lack of a marketplace hurts the poor the worst. The rich always seem to have “connections”. The poor don’t get a chance to sell what they no longer have a need for and help their families. May sound grusome, but it’s a tough life being poor. Why further complicate a poor family’s life? They should be allowed, no encouraged, to sell their deceased family member for parts. Instead they get their arm twisted to “donate” and a bill for the funeral. Why is it OK for doctors and hospitals to make a buck doing transplants, but not for the “donor” to get paid? I can envision that some unfortunate’s child gets to go to college on his dead relative’s kidney. What’s so terrible about that?

See its our own thinking that kills us by preventing us from seeing the solution. All because it doesn’t fit someone’s preconceived notions. Free markets always clear the supply and demand. Only when the gooferment gets involved to we have shortages, waste, death, injury, and destruction.

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TECHNOLOGY: Protecting children on the internet

Thursday, October 1, 2009

If the Internet Service Providers had their heads screwed on straight, if the FCC or FTC was REALLY interested in protecting children, we could have rock solid “age” verification. No one can “prove” their age on the net now. But the ISPs could do it.

They “own” the customer relationship. They issue their paying customer a user id and password for their account. So immediately, we have a defined adult. (If a child steals their parent’s credit card to buy internet access, the parent will know it when the bills come in.) The ISPs are sure they are going to get paid.

They can then provide the mechanism for their Customer to define identiies for others. I’d suggest email addresses. If forced, and / or enabled by law, the ISPs could allow their Customer to define: Child, Tween, or Teen.

Then, a stylized form of communication between the Web Site Providers and the Internet Service Providers can occur.

The user, who may or may not be underage, registers at a website with their ISP email address. The WSP sends the request to the ISP. The ISP notifys the Credit Card Customer. Who agrees or disagrees. The ISP then communicates “Teen, Tween, or Child” to the ISP.

Problem solved!

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RANT: Ayers is closer to Obama then previously led to beleive

Thursday, October 1, 2009

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=110789

*** begin quote ***

Because, if it is true – and I believe it is – it confirms Obama lied boldly and blatantly about something so significant during the campaign. It would also confirm Obama as a close associate and trusted friend to one of the most despicable America haters on planet Earth.

You just don’t hire anyone to collaborate with you on your autobiography. You only choose someone you trust, someone who thinks like you, someone who really knows you and your innermost convictions and shares them.

The evidence is mounting that Obama selected Bill Ayers.

*** end quote ***   

The American People, in their rush to justly punish the R’s, has elected a “Manchurian candidate”. As we learn more, as the “legend” he’s created unravels, as he pursues hid true agenda, we are finding that we have really screwed up.

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MONEY: Insurance … the proper role

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2009/09/23/renters-insurance-peace-of-mind-for-ten-bucks-a-month/

Renters Insurance: Peace of Mind for Ten Bucks a Month Print
Wednesday, 23rd September 2009 (by April) This article is about House and Home, InsuranceThis post is from GRS staff writer April Dykman.

*** begin quote ***
“We lost everything,” he says. Later they’d find out that it was arson. A former employee of the apartment complex stole rent checks and set the office on fire. Frank was moving into a new apartment in ten days, and the new complex agreed to let them move in early. “We moved in with a plastic bag of groceries, paid for with a $50 food voucher from the Red Cross,” he says. The other 70 displaced tenants stayed in Red Cross shelters.

*** end quote ***
This story may be of interest to the “preparing community”.
(1) Notice the lack of a bug out bag in the apartment AS WELL AS the lack of a bug out bag in the car. To be TOTALLY wiped out by a fire? Unthinkable.
(2) Renter’s insurance, and most insurance is cheap. I’m always amazed at all the Wall Street folks who died in 9/11 that had ZERO life insurance. It tells me that people are not thinking rationally about their “risk profile”. Consumers buy “appliance insurance” on a sub 500$ thing; can people even spell “self insurance”.
(3) On the topic of insurance, politicians want to mandate insurance companies to cover “maintenance” items. Like the previous “appliance insurance” discussion, it’s stupid. Like insuring your car’s oil change. Say it’s 50$ twice a year. The insurance company has to administrate the claims and make a profit. 100$ of oil changes probably would cost a $1,000! Sheer stupidity. Insurance should be for catastrophic things.
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SERVICE: Google Alerts become more usable

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

By using Google search with the site option, you can get your “favorite author” feed from sites that don’t directly support it.

Steps:

  • Get your Google search string the way you need it. Example: “Stossel site:wnd.com”
  • Get over to Google Alerts and set one up for email.
  • Save it.
  • Change the alert from email to feed.
  • Subscribe to it in Google Reader.
  • Enjoy

Pretty neat.

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GOVEROTRAGEOUS: Terps get screwed!

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/09/militarys-forgotten-terps-get-some-love/

Military’s Forgotten ‘Terps’ Get Some Love
    * By Nathan Hodge Email Author
    * September 22, 2009

*** begin quote ***

Foust and Hsia aren’t the first ones to take up the cause of the interpreters. Many Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have tried to help their interpreters — many of whom face death threats — get special immigrant visas. Writing last year in the New York Post, Marine Corps vet Owen West expressed his frustration with the maddening bureaucratic process. “As a Marine, I was taught never to leave a comrade-in-arms behind on the battlefield,” he wrote. “But that’s exactly what the State Department is doing to men and women who’ve sacrificed everything to help our troops – our Iraqi interpreters.”

*** end quote ***

As usual, the gooferment figures out a way for is to screw some of our few friends.

I bet these “Terps” would be as good a citizen as any U of Maryland grad.

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MONEY: When the shoe drops

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

http://www.lewrockwell.com/rozeff/rozeff313.html
*** begin quote *** My bet is this. One fine day the bottom is going to drop out of the dollar. There will be a swift and sharp order of magnitude change. The recognition of the problems will reach a point at which it starts to go exponential, not just in terms of people being vaguely conscious that things are not right, but in terms of actually taking action to protect themselves. Foreign central banks may be reluctant to dump their dollar securities and think it better to liquidate them slowly so as not to drive prices down and break the market, but when they observe that others are running for the exits, they will run too.*** end quote ***
I agree that there will be a “run”. But it will look differently.
The Chinese are leading it NOW. The recent swap of Chinese held dollars for IMF gold, their “strategic reserve” acquisition program, and their stated “strategic rebalancing of their portfolio” is happening now.
Since there is nothing backing the US dollar, there is no “bank” to “run” on. So by definition, it will look differently than the Great Depression.
IMHO, (and I’m an injineer by education and know it all blogger by avocation), the “run” is happening now.
US borrowing is in trouble. I think we are seeing the FED quietly, carefully, and with malice aforethought manipulating with the assistance of the bailed out Wall Street firms manipulating the Treasury bond sales. They are selling debt at what appears to be record low levels. But by using shills, they are quietly buying it back from their accomplices on the street after the auction.
That’s why the FED coudn’t stand an audit as Ron Paul and others have asked for. It’s a Ponzi scheme.
So, what will the run look like?
Foreigners will exit the Treasury market. (Didn’t the Chinese students laugh at Geithner?) The dollar will tank against foreign currencies. Commodities rise in dollar terms, but not as much in other currencies. The world “readjusts” to a trading pattern that excludes or minimizes the US since everything will be much more expensive in dollars that no one wants.
Here at home, the fixed income people are screwed — the old, the retired, the elderly, the “savers”. The elite political class continues to spend other people’s money which is fast drying up. (Without access to foreign credit, all they can do is run the printing press.) Hyperinflation will destroy the dollar. As the welfare spending drops, there has to be riots in the inner cities. As the crisis expands, warfare spending has to drop. Eventually the government has to default on its debt. Unfunded liabilities like social security are defaulted on as well.
I hope that commodity money reemerges from the “return to barter” and the chaos of the “American default” like Zimbabwe. And, we can begin the long climb back up.
It’s going to be messy.fjohn

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INTERESTING: Oh Donna!

Monday, September 28, 2009

http://www.impactlab.com/2009/09/29/lucy-in-the-sky-dies-at-age-46/

September 29th, 2009 at 11:01 am

‘Lucy In The Sky’ Dies At Age 46

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The woman who inspired the classic Beatles song Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, has died at aged 46, a charity said today. The song featured on the ground-breaking 1967 album Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

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This ranks right up there with Valen’s Donna!

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_Donna_Ludwig_still_alive

Makes me sad!

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FUN: MP4B do something to redeem

Monday, September 28, 2009

http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2009/09/17/safe_at_home/

MA: GIs safe at home
Boston Globe

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“It was supposed to be a brief stop for the Red Sox to share the World Series trophy with wounded soldiers. But the team lingered at Walter Reed Army Medical Center for much of the afternoon, deeply moved by their conversations with amputees and veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. Now that visit in February 2008 has turned into much more. The Boston Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital will announce today the launch of a $6 million program to treat the rising number of men and women returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injuries and to encourage reluctant veterans to seek services. The players hope to take a crucial role in trying to diminish the stigma many veterans feel about asking for help for a mental disorder. Pitcher Tim Wakefield has filmed the first of a series of planned public service announcements in which he implores veterans to get treatment.”

[editor’s note: Apologies to those who don’t think this is “news” … Someone doing something constructive for a change is good to hear; the fact that it’s my beloved Sawx is just a bonus! – SAT] (09/17/09)

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The fact that it is the hated Red Sox (just kidding) is even more infuriating.

Seriously.

I am always kvetching about MP4B (i.e., “Millionaires Playing For Billionaires”). So, in this case, I have to applaud.

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POLITICAL: Socialism defined

Monday, September 28, 2009

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=110291

Smack out of money
Posted: September 19, 2009 1:00 am Eastern
By Dan L. White

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Socialism is stealing by the government. It takes from one person and gives to another, and the government bureaucrats always take their cut out of the middle. If I go to your house and take your stuff and carry it back to my house, that’s called stealing. If the government does the same thing, it’s called compassion.

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I always am amazed that I am robbed by the Federal Gooferment. They take their cut. Send it to the State Gooferment. They take their cut. And, send it to the County Gooferment. They take their cut. And, send it to the Municipal Gooferment. They take their cut and provide a service. A service I may not want, can’t use, or can’t afford.

And, I pay taxes to every level!

Argh!

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Posted by reinkefj

GOVEROTRAGEOUS: More Gooferment taking over more and more

Sunday, September 27, 2009

http://tinyurl.com/lohczj

House backs bill to overhaul student loan program
USA Today

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“The House voted Thursday in favor of the biggest overhaul of college aid programs since their creation in the 1960s — a bill to oust private lenders from the student loan business and put the government in charge. The vote was 253-171 in favor of a bill that fulfills nearly all of President Obama’s campaign promises for higher education: The measure ends subsidies for private lenders, boosts Pell Grants for needy students and creates a grant program to improve community colleges, among other things.” (09/17/09)

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When does the gooferment stop taking over things?

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Posted by reinkefj

POLITICAL: End the psuedo drug war

Sunday, September 27, 2009

http://tinyurl.com/l7x7j9

Taliban suspected of stockpiling “missing” Afghan opium
CNN

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“Enough Afghan opium to supply world demand for two years has effectively gone missing, with the Taliban suspected of stockpiling supplies in a bid to corner the market, the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has revealed. Afghanistan is the world’s leading narcotics supplier. Earlier this month, a U.N. study revealed Afghanistan’s opium production had dropped dramatically this year partly because of new aggressive drug-fighting tactics in the country.” (09/23/09)

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As usual, here’s a gret chance to stick it to our enemies.

End the Psuedo Drug War.

What are they going to do with it? Smoke it themselves.

“Hey, Achmid, what do e do with all this shit?”

We can put WalMart, Walgreens, and any other pharmacist in the “drug” business. (“Illegal” drugs would dramatically drop in price. Guesstimates seem to place it cheaper than aspirin. Face it MJ is a weed!)

The people, including children, who want to take drugs, can be assured of pure “safe” drug that won’t kill them with impurities and or varying dosages. We can pardon all those non-violent drug offenders emptying out the prisons. All the money being spent in the failing failed “Psuedo Drug War” can be redirected to prevention, rehabilitation, and restoring people. VIolence in our inner cities, that is the Drug Gang’s war zone, will be eliminated.

Peace and prosperity through out the land.

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LIBERTY: We should be ashamed

Sunday, September 27, 2009

http://floatingcubans.com/

200909200814.jpg

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The original attempt at reaching the United States was done with a converted 1951 Chevy pickup truck on July 16, 2003. The truck’s drive shaft was attached directly to a propeller and the craft could reportedly reach a leisurely 7 knots (8 mph). 55-gallon oil drums were used for flotation. The dozen or so Cubans in the truck were caught just south of Key West after being sighted by a U.S. Customs aircraft.

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We should put a giant garbage bag over the Statue of Liberty.

It mocks us.

If we eliminated welfare, then we could throw open the “Golden Doors”.

We’d be a better place.

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